Wikipedia Trails: From Yama to the Carnival of Venice

I'm working on a novel for another class this semester (inspired by a weekly post in the Myth-Folklore class last semester, fittingly enough), and it revolves around a necromancer-medium duo. Because of that, I thought it would be interesting to research about Yama, the Indian god of death, and see where that takes me.

1: Yama, Indian god of death & the underworld

In any mythology, I'm always interested in the death god's actual relationship with death, and Yama's is probably the most interesting one I've seen so far: Wikipedia states that according to the Vedas, "Yama is said to have been the first mortal who died. By virtue of precedence, he became the ruler of the departed and the lord of the [spirits of the departed]."

In Hinduism, he's guarded by a couple of hellhounds who "wander about among people as messengers," and Yama himself "wields a leash with which he seizes the lives of people who are about to die." Another version claims he carries around a noose instead of a scythe, which is pretty fascinating.


2: Death (personification)

It seemed appropriate to read up on personifications of Death itself, since that's interesting research for my novel, so that's where I headed next.

Some cultures have thought of Death/the Grim Reaper as responsible for a person's death, causing it when coming to collect the person; because of that, characters in some old stories try to avoid Death by dodging his visits or tricking him, sometimes even bribing him. Other people view Death as more of a chaperone, a psychopomp who comes to collect the victim and bring him or her to the afterlife.

Interestingly, "Ancient Greece found Death to be inevitable, and therefore, he is not represented as purely evil. He...has also been portrayed as a young boy." The Greek god of death was Thanatos; his brother was Hypnos, god of sleep, while his sisters were the Keres, "spirits of violent death...associated with deaths from battle, disease, accident, and murder." If Thanatos wasn't seen as evil, his sisters were: they were often depicted as "feeding on the blood of the body after the soul had been escorted to Hades," with "fangs and talons, and would be dressed in bloody garments."

Celtic folklore's death figure, delightfully, was usually "the spirit of the last person that died within the community." In Ireland, meanwhile, it was a dullahan: someone whose "head would be tucked under his or her arm," with a head that "was said to have large eyes and a smile that could reach the head's ears." The dullahan would ride up to someone's house on a black horse and call out that person's name, causing their instant death. But the dullahan apparently didn't like attention, because "if a dullahan knew someone was watching them, they would lash that person's eyes with their whip, which was made from a spine..."

In Aztec mythology, morphed through the years by Spanish traditions, the "Lady of the Dead" (related to the Mexican folk religion's "Our Lady of the Holy Death") is said to have been born and then sacrificed as an infant before becoming the Lady.


3: Plague Doctor Costume

The related links brought me here, which is also the source of this post's photo. Apparently, plague doctors during the 17th century wore this outfit to protect against airborne diseases; it "consisted of an ankle length overcoat and a bird-like beak mask often filled with sweet or strong smelling substances (commonly lavender), along with gloves, boots, a wide brim hat, and an outer over-clothing garment." There were glass openings in the mask to see through, and straps that held the beak over the doctor's nose. The doctors would also wear leather hats to show their profession, and carried canes so they could examine patients, shift clothing, and check pulses without actually making deadly contact.

During the Plague of 1656, "[t]he costume terrified people because it was a sign of imminent death."


4: Carnival of Venice

For my last stop, I wound up at the Carnival of Venice, where I was mainly interested in the masks. Apparently, back in the day, people were allowed to spend a large part of the year in disguise; "[m]askmakers enjoyed a special position in society, with their own laws and their own guild." There are plenty of different theories to explain this widespread practice, but one explanation is that "covering the face in public was a uniquely Venetian response to one of the most rigid class hierarchies in European history." Eventually, though, masks and crime became an issue, and the law cracked down on wearing masks "in daily life."




Image Credit: Copper engraving of Doctor Schnabel [i.e Dr. Beak], by Paul Furst. Source: Wikimedia Commons.